Sith by the name of Deskyl, apprenticed to a Lord Pritruth; she specializes in lightsaber design, both general improvements and individualized custom ones. It doesn't look like she's done anything recently, though; her work history is a little gappy, but it's been most of a year now since she released so much as a paper, and that's a bit odd. (She's also available to commission for artwork, statuary and bas-relief pieces in stone or metal or gems; her portfolio of those hasn't been updated in a year and a half, but that's not an unusual gap, for her.) The file includes contact information.

Interesting.

She decides to inquire about a commission.

The automated response says she'll get back to her within three working days.

She does not get back to her within three working days.

Hmm.

She looks up something in Darth Svahe's files that's related to something Pritruth's working on and sends him a message saying she'd like to talk to him about it.

That gets a prompt response. He's available for a holocall the following afternoon, if she'd like.

She would like.

The area of Svahe's research she found a match for Pritruth's in...concerns her. But best not to make premature judgement calls.

He's there for the holocall at the agreed-upon time.

That - yeah, that sure is Deskyl, perched on the steps leading up to his seat. She looks... vacant, is really the only way to put it, staring disinterestedly off at something outside the scope of the hologram after a perfunctory glance at Ekkreth a minute or so after the call begins.

Ekkreth has to use her "Gosh I sure am a Sith who is okay with this shit" face for almost the entire call. She really does not like spending this much of her mental energy on something so closely related to her dead master.

At the end she mentions offhand that she thinks she heard his name in the context of some apprentice of his who was doing brilliant engineering work and then stopped, but isn't listed as dead for some reason, does he know why that is?

"Oh, Deskyl's been busy helping another of my apprentices with some other research - classified, for now, but we hope to have something ready to release in the next few years, fascinating stuff, very promising."

She doesn't respond at all, when he says her name, not even a flicker of attention.

"And it's occupying so much of her time that she has no attention whatsoever to use on her own projects?"

"She's been pretty taken with it, yes. I can recommend some of her colleagues if you're in the market for something?"

"Not urgently, though I'll keep it in mind. I would appreciate it if you would remind her that if she's busy enough to be unable to fulfil orders as advertised that it would be prudent to cease advertising the ability to fill orders."

"I will; thank you for bringing it to my attention."

She glances at Deskyl again, says "Mm," and cuts the connection.

If she checks back, she'll find that Deskyl's holonet file has been edited to remove the contact information and any mention of currently taking commissions.

Yeah.

Fuck.

Okay, this obviously can't be allowed to go on longer. She saw her--that's--she doesn't know what's going on there but it's obviously not acceptable.

She arranges to visit Pritruth in person.

He's got a compound of his own on a settled planet well back from any battle lines; the planet has a few cities, but there's plenty of wilderness, too, and his base is several hours' speeder travel from any other buildings.

He's not enthusiastic about the visit, but he's hardly going to argue with a Darth; he's there as instructed when she arrives.

She starts off by picking up the discussion about education, but a little while in, adds, "I was wondering, by the way, if you think I'm an idiot."

"Of course not, my lord." He's wary - that almost goes without saying - but not surprised at the question.

"Because unless I am badly mistaken the apprentice I mentioned was in view when we were speaking."

He winces just slightly. "Yes, Lord."

"And that did not look like a person whose projects had been abandoned because they were too busy helping someone else."

"- no. She had an, ah, discipline problem; she has been assisting my other apprentice, but not in a - usual sort of capacity. I can offer a copy of her unpublished work, if that would be sufficient to your needs?"

"I am curious what kind of assistance leaves someone looking like that."

"I'm sorry, my lord, the project is classified; I can show you the documentation if you'd like."